A Whisper In Every Heart
by endless dreams
Summary: not really sure where this story is gonna lead me, 'cause i'm just writing this as i go. but for starters, Voldemort not only wants harry potter, but wants Riley White also.


Riley White yawned and sat up on her four-poster bed, pulling the curtains that surrounded it away as she did so.  
  
Bright light streamed in through the window to her right, making her blink. It was a beautiful morning; the birds were singing and the sky was bright blue with no clouds in sight. Sighing, Riley placed herself on her feet, the cold wooden floor sending chills down her back. She faced another four- poster bed and pulled the curtains up.  
  
"Hey, Clover! Get up! It's-" Riley glanced at her wrist-watch-" eight- o-clock already! We're going to be late for Herbology! I don't think you want to be late on our first day back!"  
  
Clover groaned and pulled the blankets up around her head, signaling Riley to go away. Shaking her head, Riley quickly dressed and exited out to the Gryffindor common room, where she found the famous Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger who was the top in every class. Riley smiled at them as she brushed out the tangles in her long brown hair. "Good morning, everyone!" she said brightly, stuffing her brush into her bag.  
  
"'Morning" Ron grunted, glaring at Hermione.  
  
It was very obvious that they had just had another fight of some sort.  
  
Hermione pretended that she didn't see Ron's glare and nodded. Harry did the same.  
  
"Well, I'm off to breakfast. Anybody want to come?" Riley offered, hitching her bag on to her shoulder and looking around at the three.  
  
Hermione got up from her seat and brushed off her black robe. "I'll come."  
  
Together, the two climbed out of the portrait hole, down the marble staircase and into the Great Hall. Noisy chatter filled their ears as they took seats at the Gryffindor table. Riley helped herself to some bacon and toast. She took a bite of her toast and stopped hesitantly, glancing nervously at Hermione who was looking at her weirdly. "Is there something wrong?" Riley asked, after she had chewed thoroughly and swallowed.  
  
"Wrong? Oh, no! Of course not! Wrong.silly."  
  
Riley eyed her for a moment longer, but her stomach growled in protest. She was starving. "Aren't you going to eat, at least? That's what you came down here for, right? Breakfast?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "No thanks, I already ate."  
  
Riley raised an eyebrow. "Why did you come down here with me then?"  
  
"Oh, um, nothing. I just wanted to get away from Ron," Hermione answered, twirling her bushy brown hair around her finger and not looking at Riley.  
  
Something was definitely wrong.but what?  
  
After breakfast, Hermione and Riley climbed up the marble staircase again and faced the portrait of the Fat Lady.  
  
"Ice breath," Hermione said briskly, looking at her watch. It was a quarter to nine and almost time for their first class.  
  
The Fat Lady swung the picture open and the two girls clambered in, finding the common room almost completely full.  
  
"What's going on?" Riley shouted above all the noise that the people were making.  
  
It usually wasn't this crowded in the morning. Especially on the first day. Most kids would have had wanted to get to their first class by now.  
  
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out!" Hermione yelled back. Walking over to Dean Thomas, she tapped his shoulder and asked him something in his ear. He answered back and returned to watching a hamster that Fred and George had pampered with. It looked as if the animal was starting to swell a little bit.  
  
Hermione caught Riley's eye and shrugged, then she disappeared through the crowd probably to find Harry and Ron.  
  
Riley sighed impatiently. Now what was she going to do? She stood on her tiptoes and looked over across peoples' heads for a sign of Clover. Unfortunately, there wasn't. She had to be either still sleeping, or down at the Great Hall finally eating breakfast. Riley pushed and shoved her way through the gigantic crowd and raced up the stairs that led up to the girls' dormitory. Then, she opened the door that led to her bedroom and walked over to Clover's bed. The curtains were drawn around it again. Riley rolled her eyes and withdrew the curtains.  
  
"Clover I-" Riley started to say, then stopped. Nobody was in the bed.  
  
"Hmm." she said thoughtfully, tapping her chin with her finger. This meant that she was most likely down at breakfast. She sighed again and exited out of the bedroom, down the stairs and into the common room. Except that this time, it was completely deserted. Riley blinked. She had barely left the room two minutes ago! It was unusually quiet. So quiet, that you could hear a tiny mouse squeak.  
  
Maybe they already left for class! she thought, as she looked at her watch. It was twelve minutes to nine.  
  
Suddenly, there was a loud rustle and a single piece of paper floated down from the mantle of the fireplace. Riley gulped and quickly caught it before it hit the ground. It bore a single sentence in scraggly handwriting:  
  
I have her...and everybody else.  
  
"Who wrote this?" Riley asked aloud, her panic rising. Her heart was starting to beat so rapidly that her chest hurt. "Tell me!" she screamed. Tears were beginning to blind her vision as she looked wildly around.  
  
Maybe somebody wrote this before they left the room, Riley thought. Maybe it was just a joke for someone and it just blew off the mantle from the wind. She glanced at the window; it was closed.  
  
Riley closed her eyes and put her hand to her heart. After a few minutes, her heart went back to normal.  
  
It's okay, she told herself firmly. Calmly, she walked over to the portrait and pulled on the handle. It was locked. Furiously, she clasped the handle with both hands and pulled on it as hard as she could.  
  
"Let me out, you idiot! Let me out!" she screamed wildly, banging on the portrait. Finally, she stopped and slid down to the floor, crying.  
  
"Nobody is here to help you this time. You're all alone."  
  
A familiar voice hissed in the atmosphere. Riley looked up and wiped away her tears. "I know you." Riley said, racking her brains. She heard that voice somewhere before. But where?  
  
"Having trouble, I ssssee. I'll give you a clue, my sweet. I was the most feared dark lord in all hissstory."  
  
"Voldemort!" Riley shouted, jumping to her feet. "Come on out and show yourself!  
  
Voldemort laughed a harsh and high-pitched laugh, making the hair on Riley's neck stand on an end.  
  
"I don't need to, my dear. I don't need to."  
  
"Go away! Nobody wants you here!" Riley shouted, pulling her wand out of her bag. She walked around the common room with her wand out in a ready position. She was prepared for any unexpected things that he might do.  
  
"First of all.a wand won't do you any good at all. And second of all.there IS nobody to dislike me. Like I said, I'm keeping them in my little pocket. " He laughed again. "But, since it isn't fair that I am more powerful than you and this is the beginning of the school term, I'll leave you alone. But you can count on it, that I will come back for you. Until nexxxt time, my pretty."  
  
The voice faded and soon could not be heard. Riley sighed a breath of relief. Everything was going to be okay. She sank down into one of the soft red chairs by the fireplace and lay back relaxingly.  
  
Without warning, the portrait banged open, making Riley jump up in surprise, and in popped Harry. His forehead was beaded with sweat and his eyes were wide with fear.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" He demanded once he had caught sight of her. He fumbled in his robes for his wand and pointed it at Riley.  
  
"I-I don't know!" Riley said, staring at him. "And put your stupid wand down! I'm not going to attack you or anything!" she snapped, putting her own wand back into her bag.  
  
"Oh, right. Sorry," he muttered, lowering his arm.  
  
"What happened to you? It looks as if you dunked your head into the toilet," Riley commented.  
  
"Voldemort." Harry answered simply, walking over to one of the other red chairs and sitting down in it.  
  
Riley's eyes grew wide. "Really? Me too! But, I don't understand. Why does he want both of us?"  
  
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Did he want you too? I mean, I thought after all these years, he was just looking for me. But, I guess not."  
  
They were silent for a moment.  
  
"Hey," Riley said, breaking the silence. "Um, did-did you have that.quiet thingy happen to you too? Like, one moment everybody was there, and the next they were all gone?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Uh, hey," Harry said awkwardly, "I think I hear shouting and yelling outside."  
  
It was true. Gradually, voices were beginning to be heard outside of the common room.  
  
"Come on, let's go. I think we'll be late for Herbology." Riley said, getting up from her seat and opening the portrait door, which opened quite easily now.  
  
Harry nodded and followed Riley out the picture.  
  
"Harry! Hey, Harry!" someone shouted down the hall. Riley and Harry both turned around and looked. It was Ron.  
  
Harry waved and looked meaningfully at Riley, who shrugged. Together, they walked down the hall and caught up with Ron.  
  
"Where were you, man? Hermione and I were looking everywhere for you! And if we don't hurry, we're going to be late for our first class. And what are you doing here?"  
  
Ron said sharply, suddenly noticing Riley.  
  
Riley shrugged again.  
  
"Oh, no. Harry, don't tell me." Ron said, looking quizzically at Harry.  
  
"What?" Harry asked, slightly annoyed.  
  
"Never mind. Later. Now come on!" Ron said, picking up a faster pace.  
  
When they finally reached the greenhouse, they were five minutes late. They dashed into greenhouse 3 and quickly sat down in random seats. Professor Sprout had stopped talking abruptly when the three burst in through the door, and she was now glaring down at them. When Harry looked around and spotted Hermione, she was wearing almost the same look, except more of disapproval. She looked at him and glared reproachfully, raising her hand at the same time.  
  
"Ms. Granger?"  
  
Ron looked absolutely horrified. "What is she doing?" he hissed to Harry. "She's not telling on us, is she?"  
  
Harry shook his head. "That's stupid, Ron. Professor Sprout already knows we're late."  
  
"Well, so what? Hermione always has tricks up her sleeves."  
  
"I would just like to know why Ron and Harry were late to class today," Hermione said in her most sweetest voice.  
  
Ron kept on opening his mouth and closing it and staring at Hermione disbelievingly as if she had betrayed them somehow. Riley couldn't help but think that he reminded her of a fish out of water. She glanced at Harry. He was looking coldly at Hermione, his eyebrows snapped together.  
  
Professor Sprout looked quizzically at Hermione, then at Ron and Harry.  
  
"It's none of your business," Ron said hotly to Hermione.  
  
Hermione sniffed airily and returned to her tray of plants, trying to collect some leaves from a Leaf-Less Weed.  
  
The Leaf-Less Weed only produced leaves about a minute at a time and right when they were all nice and green, the leaves would turn brown. So you had to be quick and had to pluck the leaves off at the right moment. They were supposed to help re-grow cut off legs and arms. 


End file.
